


Persistence

by ideallyqualia



Series: UshiOi [2]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Canon Universe, Character Study, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Relationship Study
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-24
Updated: 2015-08-24
Packaged: 2018-04-17 02:26:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,209
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4648752
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ideallyqualia/pseuds/ideallyqualia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Oikawa comes to realize that Ushijima is useless, but at least likably so.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Persistence

Shiratorizawa wasn't that far away. Oikawa knew, he was very aware of it, but he didn't keep it in mind as an important fact, it wasn't mentally reachable to him. 

Oikawa's face sharpened from being reminded of it, standing in front of Ushijima on a street corner. Oikawa didn't physically bump into him, but he stopped walking when Ushijima stepped into view.   

"I didn't know you lived around here," Ushijima said. He had a firm voice and honest motive, but he said it so easily that it was too casual for Oikawa. 

"I don't." Oikawa was visiting a friend, someone who went to Aobajousai and lived a little further than the others, but he didn't want to say it.

Oikawa thought Ushijima should have moved, taken a step to continue walking, but he stayed still and glanced over Oikawa. Ushijima's gaze always felt heavier than everyone else's, and Oikawa never knew why. He chalked it up to the seriousness in his face. It wasn't necessarily intensity, but Ushijima still lacked the understanding that brought levity.

Oikawa waved his hand, head already halfway turned. "Go back to your walk, Ushiwaka."

"I was on a run."

Oikawa let his eyes return to Ushijima. Ushijima wasn't in Shiratorizawa clothes, but he was wearing sweats and a shirt in dark reds similar to Shiratorizawa's colors. Oikawa was sure that Ushijima was just wearing them to be comfortable, but the sweats drew Oikawa's gaze.

"I didn't ask for a clarification."

Oikawa meant to completely look away, huff and leave without the formality of saying goodbye, but he kept his gaze. There was nothing interesting about Ushijima, and Oikawa's eyes reflected the dulled interest, almost squinting. His mouth was fixed in a neutral but intent line.

"Did you want to join me?"

"No? Where did you get that idea? We don't even like each other," Oikawa said.

Ushijima had the nerve to look confused. It wasn't open and obvious, and his face didn't turn blank, but the crease of his eyebrows told Oikawa that he didn't even  _agree._

"You're hesitating about something," Ushijima said.

"No I'm not. Don't be ridiculous. Just go on your run."

Ushijima had the will to move, even though Oikawa didn't. Oikawa stood there and watched him jog away, frowning to himself and screwing his nose into a tight twitch. He still couldn't believe Ushijima asked him, like they weren't two completely different people from different volleyball teams, like Oikawa wasn't from a school Ushijima acknowledged as inferior.

Oikawa resumed walking, grumbling to himself and huffing with the dramatic movements of someone with an audience. He'd have it soon enough when he met his friend.

 

* * *

 

Oikawa held a tight defensiveness about himself when he was with Ushijima. He wasn't threatened by anything, but he was readied against anything. He was convinced that Ushijima was trying to make fun of him somehow, so the next time they met on the street, Oikawa was just as guarded. 

"Ushiwaka-chan, keep walking," Oikawa said, face shifting from his thoughtful expression. 

"That's not my name." 

"My school's name isn't Shiratorizawa, either, but not everything can please you," Oikawa said, not withholding the snark.

Ushijima's shoulders went through the motion of stiffening and squaring, like he was coming to a realization, but he didn't mention anything.

"Did you think that was an insult?" Ushijima asked, and Oikawa knew what he meant between the words.

This was too loaded a conversation for just coincidental meetings on the street, but Oikawa pressed, "There wasn't any other way to take it."

Ushijima's face fell into confusion again, and it put the memory back into place, from the last time Oikawa met Ushijima on his run. The vertigo of déjà vu made Oikawa think that there was something else deeper to it, but he didn't know what.

"I didn't mean to offend you."

"People don't have to try to be offensive."

That in itself may have been offensive -- Oikawa was pushing at the hint that Ushijima was dense -- but Ushijima didn't understand that, either. The recursive levels of hopelessness made Oikawa snort.

Ushijima looked like he wanted to ask Oikawa to run again, mouth indecisive in silent movements, but he gave up. "Good luck at spring high," Ushijima said instead.

"Bite me," Oikawa said, with a note of finality and farewell stronger than the actual malice.

 

* * *

 

When Oikawa found another Shiratorizawa player on the street, it wasn't Ushijima, but Semi, that he caught in conversation. He knew even less about Semi Eita, enough to not recognize him or know his name, but Semi knew who Oikawa was immediately.

"You're the setter that Wakatoshi keeps bothering," Semi said. Semi's eyes were sparkling with a joke Oikawa didn't understand. Worse, Semi's gleam told Oikawa that the joke was laced in the words he just said.

"He gloated to you, huh."

"No, he just doesn't have a filter. He tells us everything."

Oikawa didn't want to keep talking with someone so friendly with Ushijima, and he didn't want to ask for his name. He made to step away, but Semi added, "Wakatoshi must be really impressed, if he asked you to run with him. Sometimes he doesn't even like it when wejoin him in his free time, but we slack off."

"Ushijima has the weirdest, most bizarre friends," Oikawa interrupted, "if they stop strangers on the sidewalk just to talk." 

"Point taken," Semi said, and Oikawa had to admire that he knew when to stop talking and return to his business.

 

* * *

 

Oikawa saw Ushijima again, outside of a mall Oikawa went out of his way to visit. Ushijima slowed with familiarity, and Oikawa pushed away that realization.

"You visit this area often."

"I'm just shopping." Oikawa crossed his arms, his shopping bag wobbling with the gesture. "I don't even know why I have to explain myself. Move."

Ushijima stepped aside, but Oikawa still didn't walk away. He was taking Ushijima in now, the movement catching Oikawa's attention enough to make him realize he's never seen Ushijima in casual clothes like this before. It was always a volleyball jersey or exercise clothes. Seeing him in an ordinary jacket, shoulders broad and set underneath, made Oikawa pause. 

"Aren't you leaving?" 

Oikawa saw and heard him ask, and this time he decided that he knew what the confusion in his voice and face meant. Only a useless person could be that consistently inept, unable to put intentions together and understand anything about Oikawa, and the contrast to Ushijima's volleyball talent made Oikawa laugh, hard. It reminded him of Kageyama in a way, but Kageyama was a distant and unfunny thought to him right now.

"Did I do something?" 

Oikawa kept laughing. It all caught up to him at once, Ushijima's earnestness and naiveté, and Oikawa couldn't believe that it escaped him for so long. He rested a hand on the wall to steady himself, Ushijima's frown inducing more laughter. Oikawa was gasping breathless after a minute, and when he looked up at Ushijima, he had to remember to wipe the amusement off his face. It was probably impossible to give Ushijima the wrong idea, he wasn't going to connect any dots and jump to any conclusions, but Oikawa didn't want to give _himself_ the wrong idea.

**Author's Note:**

> (General A/N that exists at the end of all my fics): I find unsolicited concrit really rude, I'm not looking for any. Please don't tell me someone was OOC/something happened you didn't like/it's too short/etc. in any bookmarks or comments.


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